The present invention relates to portable telephones having an automatic power-on function to have the power turned on at a predetermined activation time.
With a portable telephone in general, a power key serving as one of manual keys is mounted thereon to be manipulated when the power is turned on/off. If the power key, for example, is depressed for longer than a specified period of time, the power can be switched from on to off or from off to on alternately. Widely used are portable telephones having an automatic power-on function for turning the power from off to on automatically upon a predetermined activation time coming. Among the portable telephones, such portable telephones are in wide use as have an alarm function to ring an alarm at a predetermined activation time.
With the portable telephones having the automatic power-on function and the alarm function, if the user sets one or a plurality of desired alarm producing times, whenever the desired time comes, the automatic power-on function is activated to have the power turned automatically off to on, and to activate the alarm function to ring an alarm, enabling the user to notice the activation time coming by sound, hence a convenience.
Under a certain circumstance into which portable telephones are brought, such as boarding an airplane or getting on the public transportation system, and the like, the user is required to turn off the power of the portable telephones due to the requirement of safety, etc. However, with the portable telephone having the automatic power-on function and the alarm function as stated above, even though the user turns the power off when boarding a plane, for instance, the power is automatically turned on to ring an alarm upon the alarm producing time coming.
In order to obviate this problem, the user needs to cancel the setting of the automatic power-on function and the alarm. In the case where the alarm is set at a plurality of times, the user must manipulate the cancellation of each alarm set time, bothering the user. Once the alarm set time is cancelled, the user must manipulate to set the alarm again, hence a cumbersomeness.
An object of the present invention is to provide a portable telephone which enables the user to cancel an automatic power-on function by a simple procedure even if an alarm is set at a plurality of times, and thereafter to have the setting of the automatic power-on function returned to the original state by a simple procedure.
The portable telephone of the invention comprises key input means, activation time memory means for storing an activation time being input by the manipulation of the key input means, activation time detection means for detecting whether the activation time comes which is stored in the activation time memory means, validation/invalidation memory means for storing validation/invalidation of the automatic power-on function set being input by the manipulation of the key input means, control means for activating the automatic power-on function upon detecting the activation time coming only when the validation of the automatic power-on function set is stored in the validation/invalidation memory means.
With the specific portable telephone of the invention described above, in the case where the user sets the automatic power-on function, the user inputs the invalidation of the automatic power-on function set by manipulating the key input means when boarding a plane, for example. This does not bring the automatic power-on function into being activated even upon a predetermined automatic power-on time coming. Thereafter, if the user inputs the validation of the automatic power-on function set by manipulating the key input means when getting off a plane, the automatic power-on function is activated, turning on the power automatically upon the predetermined activation time (power-on time) coming.
With the specific construction, the portable telephone comprises alarm means for ringing at a predetermined activation time. The control means activates the automatic power-on function and the alarm means upon detecting the activation time coming only when the validation of the automatic power-on function set is stored in the validation/invalidation memory means.
According to this specific construction, in the case where an alarm is set at a predetermined time, the user inputs the invalidation of the automatic power-on function set by manipulating the key input means when boarding a plane, for instance. This does not bring the automatic power-on function into being activated, not to ring an alarm even upon an alarm producing time coming. Thereafter, the user inputs the validation of the automatic power-on function set by manipulating the key input means when getting off a plane, activating the automatic power-on function to have the power turned on automatically upon the predetermined activation time (alarm producing time) coming, ringing the alarm at the same time.
Stated more specifically, the key input means comprises a power key to be manipulated when the power is turned off manually, and a function key to be manipulated when a desired function is set. The user inputs the validation of the automatic power-on function set by manipulating the power key without manipulating the function key. The user inputs the invalidation of the automatic power-on function set by manipulating the power key immediately after manipulating the function key. With the specific construction, when the power is turned off by the manipulation of the power key, validation/invalidation of the automatic power-on function set can be switched depending on whether the function key is manipulated.
Further specifically, the portable telephone of the invention comprises display means for displaying the state when the user inputs the invalidation of the automatic power-on function set with the power off state. With the specific construction, when the user inputs the invalidation of the automatic power-on function set, the display means shows the state of the invalidation. This leads to reduced likelihood that the user will forget the manipulation of returning the invalidation to the validation of the automatic power-on function set after getting off a plane, for example.
With the portable telephone of the invention described above, the setting of the automatic power-on function can be cancelled by the simple key manipulation even if alarm is set at a plurality of times, so that it is unnecessary for the user to cancel each alarm set time. Further, with the simple key manipulation, the setting of the automatic power-on function can be returned to the original state, and the user needs not conduct the manipulation again for setting an alarm.